SO2-sensing characteristics of NASICON sensors with ZnSnO3 sensing electrode

A compact tubular sensor based on sodium super ionic conductor (NASICON) and ZnSnO3 sensing electrode was designed for the detection of sulfur dioxide. The NASICON and ZnSnO3 material were prepared by sol–gel method and were analyzed by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, respectively. And ZnSnO3 materials were analyzed by SEM. ZnSnO3 thick film was prepared to investigate characteristics of sulfur dioxide (SO2) at various operating temperatures. The sensor using ZnSnO3 gave excellent sensing properties to 5–50 ppm SO2 in air at 360–390 °C. The EMF value of the sensor was almost proportional to the logarithm of SO2 concentration, the sensitivity (slope) was 255 mV/decade at 375 °C. It was also seen that the sensor showed a good selectivity to SO2 against H2S, NO2, Cl2, NO and C7H8. The sensor had speedy response kinetics to SO2 too, the 90% response time to 5, 10, 20 and 50 ppm SO2 was 18, 10, 8 and 5 s, respectively, and the recovery time was 27, 99, 184 and 243 s, respectively. Finally, a sensing mechanism involved the mixed potential was proposed.